"Cleaners" who wont clean!!!!

Witless

(And as for my desk - I clean my own!)

arkonite_babe

drew2k9 wrote: »

just wondering if it was just me and the building i work in, but have any of you had bad experiences with outside contract cleaners?

if you have experienced what i experience then i am sure you will be just as frustrated as me!!

what i am talking about is that time when you see the cleaners and ask... "why have you not cleaned my desk in the past 2-3 months???!!!" and their answer is something along the lines of... "well, your desk wasnt clean enough for us to clean" ...

the rest of the conversation usually follows as such
me-"im sorry what????" cl-"it wasnt clean enough"... me-"forgive my naivety, but are you not a cleaner? is your job not to clean? do you get paid to decide what you do and dont want to clean? is it in your contract that you only clean what you feel like?"

i understand that some people in the world will not take the time or put in the effort to remove their own rubbish from their desk and leave a collection of various kitchenware sprewn around, but when the only things on my desk are a few work related files, some stationary and a monitor and keyboard, what more could they really ask for!!!??!?!?!?!

i know this rant may seem out of nowhere, but i had to vent my anger somewhere, so as soon as i had taken the layers of dust off my keyboard and sterilised my hands, i thought id like to see if it was just me or are there numerous lazy cleaners in the world getting paid to not clean as things arent clean enough already?

imagine the chaos if other professions worked on this principal!

... im sorry, your house is too "on fire" for us to put out...

...your car is too broken down for us to fix...

oh wait, ive thought of a similar one! ...your bin is too full for us to empty... theres an annoying one too!!!


discuss!

A little piece of advice from someone who works in the contract cleaning industry....

Cleaners are employed to deal with specific areas as per contractual agreement with the client. Unless desks are completely empty and are instructed to deal with a specific desk, cleaners as a rule won't touch them. This is all mostly so that no items or paperwork are disturbed and therefore protecting the client and the cleaning company.

Same for electrical equipment like your keyboard, cleaners are not allowed to touch these in case of any damage or accidental destruction of documents/files. (some offices do still leave pc's on overnight and logged in believe it or not!)

Contract cleaning is mainly communal areas, vacuuming, dusting, edges and ledges, emptying bins. The cleaners don't do dishes either, no matter what people seem to think!

arkonite_babe

drew2k9 wrote: »

no no im not in the civil service dont worry.

some of my work is internet based, so i have a second or two to flick on here for a bit of a look at the goings on etc. and i never watch tv in work, its always set by the women to something interesting like jeremy kyle, or loose women, stuff that has and will never interest me.

i know it was a bit of an angry rant, but it has been going on for months, and i am just getting sick of having to do the job of someone who is already paid to do it anyway!

maybe i was just spoilt by the last set of cleaners who took pride in their work and went out of their way to actually ask if anyone in the office wanted anything else cleaned or if anyone didnt want to be disturbed etc.

Oh and for the record, a lot of office cleaning hours have been slashed due to the recession. So a company who maybe before has paid for 4 cleaners, five nights a week for 4 hours at a time are now expecting 2 cleaners to do all the same work in 2 hours a night, 3 nights a week. So in that respect, your desk with "a few work files", (which is exactly the thing most cleaning companies tell staff to avoid) is way down the list of priorities. In these cases it will be high vis areas, such as boardrooms, management offices and washroom areas that are maintained to a high standard.

I hope that this gives you an idea of what staff in companies like ours are up against.

Oh and just to clarify, I'm not a cleaner, but I do currently work in the industry and I have done my fair share of filling in on sites. So I know exactly what states a lot of desks get left in.

Hmm, and I dare you to call a lot of cleaners lazy. Some of the staff I know are covering 4 or 5 sites a day every day of the week on minimum wage just to get by.

NASA_2

I do work in the Civil Service.

I have to say that some of the cleaners are excellent and others leave a lot to be desired. Just like every other area of work.

One of the cleaners we have at the minute actually tells us to move our stuff so that she can clean the desk. Fair enough - though it does mean stopping what we are doing for a few minutes which can be annoying if in the middle of something. Usually first thing in the morning though so plenty of time to catch up.

Bonny1

BigAl94 wrote: »

I suspect your attitude may be a factor!

So your the cleaner huh :rotfl: ?!?

avoniel

drew2k9 wrote: »

no no im not in the civil service dont worry.

Bloody Private sector Do they ever work?:rotfl:

x12yhp

I agree and disagree with some of the comments. The reality is that contract cleaners do have a contract and there is no getting around it. They do what they are contracted and refuse to do anything else. We cannot complain too much because this is the norm. Very few people do things that are beyond their job description anymore.

Of course one can look at the flip side. 10 years ago we had a cleaning lady who was employed by the organisation and not some contract cleaning company. Looking back... she cleaned everything. She worked around things as best possible and did her best to keep the place in good condition (she even would do dishes if needed). Nowdays, maybin do half the job with twice the people. I don't get it at all. Admittedly this is public sector money... perhaps contractors are better on the books than employees - irrelevant of one needing twice the manpower.

hollydays

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2714281

this poor ladys experience

drew2k9

i agree with x12yhp

i understand some companies dont allow certain things, but being nice and trying your best isnt too much to ask for rather than just taking advantage of the company i work for by doing very little at all and getting paid to sit around on our sofas in the kitchen watching tv drinking tea and coffee, that is definately not in their contracts!!

SnowyOwl_2

Why don't you take it up with your Facilities Manager, or whoever it is in your organisation who would manage the cleaners' contract? Maybe s/he could outline to you what the agreed service level is and then you will know what they are supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do, eg cleaning of computer screens and keyboards etc may be strictly out of bounds. Since the cleaners are wasting their time and stealing your milk, tea and coffee, then mention that as well.